Appeal for Attention and Support—Manado, 17 August 2021

We need your help, urgently and now:

Our island, our people are being sacrificed!

Indonesia, desperate to fund its huge Corona debt burden, in October last year issued the so-called omnibus laws which are meant to attract and ease foreign investment into the country. Many environmentally destructive companies have been taking advantage of this new opportunity, including Baru Gold Company from Canada, that secured the concession to exploit gold on 42 km2 or more than half of Sangihe Island in North Sulawesi.

Sangihese people have been coping with a nature prone to disasters in a safe and sustainable manner for centuries, maintaining their harmonious and peaceful customs. Facing the destruction of their livelihoods the local communities joint up in the Save Sangihe Island (SSI) movement. They need our support to finance legal steps against the Indonesian Ministry that issued the gold production permit violating existing law which protects small islands and surpassing the involvement of the local authorities and communities.

Gold mining is going to destroy our home island:

Our government is selling off small islands to raise a national Corona budget

Like elsewhere in the world  we are also battling Corona over here and its economic effects on our daily lives. But to be honest, what concerns us much more now than Corona is the danger of gold mining on our island that is prone to devastate nature and destroy our livelihoods, not only now, but for the next 33 years and several generations to come.

That long small Canadian Junior gold company Baru Gold has been granted a production license on more 42 km2 of our island by the Indonesian government. Indonesia, desperate to fund its huge Corona debt burden, in October last year issued the so-called omnibus laws which are meant to attract and ease foreign investment into the country. Our island, our people are being sacrificed!

Since our people got to know what is going on—granting production licenses should be a transparent and participatory process, says the law—outrage and resistance have become overwhelming. On Sangihe Island people have been organizing in peoples’ organizations, church, and community groups, to raise awareness and funds to finance steps against this crime. Being part of the community of Sangihe Islands District, the Sangihe Civil Society Association (SSI) now consists of 27 organizations. Merging into a social movement, the people of Save Sangihe Island (SSI) chose the way of fighting in accordance with the laws and procedures in force in the Republic of Indonesia to save their island Sangihe from the threat of environmental damage and its impacts.

Fundraising to finance legal steps to have the government permit revoked

To fund immediate legal steps to sue the Indonesian Environmental Ministry because it granted the production license while violating existing law is the purpose of this crowdfunding campaign. We need to raise 20.000 USD before October to pay legal fees, lawyers, office expenses, travel expenditure and others. 

Maybe You can consider helping us—even small amounts are much appreciated as our own fundraising by selling T-Shirts on the local level doesn’t suffice. By the way, Sangihe island is not only our livelihood, but it is also a touristic jewel featuring jungle, white sand beaches and abundant coral reefs which you might want to visit in the future …

Our best regards,
Jull Takaliuang, Alfred Pontolondo
Campaigners and Coordinators of #SaveSangiheIsland (SSI)

Facts that can not be ignored!

• Indonesia’s Constitutional Law No.1 of 2014, concerning the Management of Coasts and Small Islands, strictly regulates that islands with a land area of ​​less than 2.000 km2 are categorized as small islands and may not be mined by anyone. Meanwhile, Sangihe Island is only 737 km2 in size.
  
  
• Indonesia violates the World Ocean Declaration
  

  Contract of Work for PT. TMS also violates the World Ocean Declaration previously signed by nearly 80 countries during the World Ocean Conference in Manado, North Sulawesi in May 2009, including Indonesia as the host and Canada as a guest.

  The Declaration commits the signatories to undertaking the conservation and management of marine resources in a sustainable and long-term manner meeting internationally agreed development goals including the United Nations Millennium Development Goals on human health, food, security, poverty alleviation and disaster preparedness, in relation to the marine environment:

  1. We will strive to achieve long-term conservation, management and sustainable use of marine living resources and coastal habitats (…)

  2. We will implement integrated coastal and marine management, including marine and coastal land use planning, to minimize and reduce the risks and vulnerabilities of coastal communities and critical infrastructure.

  4. We will strive to reduce pollution of marine, coastal and terrestrial areas and to promote sustainable fisheries management and behavior to improve the health and resilience of coastal and marine ecosystems in accordance with relevant international treaties and codes.

Where is it?

Sangihe Islands Regency is located in Indonesia between the island of Sulawesi and Philippine Mindanao Island. It consists of 105 islands thereof 79 islands being inhabited and 26 being uninhabited islands.
The district capital, Tahuna, is located on the largest (mainland) island which stretches out on an area of ​​737 km2 (= 73.968 ha) with a total of 13 sub-districts on the mainland, and 2 sub-districts on other islands, namely Marore and Tatoareng districts. The total population of Sangihe Island is 131,136 people (2019).

Sangihe Islands is an area highly prone to earthquakes and volcanism, because it is influenced by two (2) large plates, namely the Eurasian plate and the Pacific plate, and two (2) small plates, namely the Sangihe plate and the Maluku sea plate. This is coupled with the existence of Karangetang volcano, Ruang volcano in Kepl. Siau Tagulandang Biaro district, and Awu volcano on Sangihe. This fact emphasizes that Sangihe is a disaster-prone island area.

What happened?

Since February 2021 the daily life order of the people of Sangihe island has been disturbed seriously and even disrupted after knowing that the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources issued a Production Business Permit (IUP) numbered 163.K / MB.04 / DJB / 2021 to PT. Tambang Mas Sangihe Mine (TMS) with a concession area of  ​​42,000 hectares. This means that more than half of the island will be exploited massively by PT. TMS for 33 years until 2054.

Illustration: Baru Gold Website — The five named exploration prospects and the regional geology

Sangihe Gold Project—The Sangihe mineral tenement consists of one block covering the southern half of Sangihe Island, located between the northern tip of Sulawesi Island (Indonesia) and southern tip of Mindanao (Philippines).

PT. TMS is the Indonesian subsidiary of Canadian junior gold mining company Baru Gold Corporation. In PT. Tambang Mas Sangihe mine itself, 70% of its shares belong to Baru Gold Corporation, previously known as East Asia Minerals, a Canadian public company engaged in mineral mining in Indonesia and elsewhere while the remaining 30% is a joint stock of 3 companies from Indonesia.

A history of nature disaster

Even without mining exploitation, Sangihe Island has experienced nature disaster numerous times, e.g.  landslides, tornados, flash floods, and even tsunamis that claimed many lives and materials on the part of the community. This has been proven in the last 5 years, flash floods hit Kolongan Village, Tahuna Barat Subdistrict, which claimed lives and destroyed residential housing along with many other material losses. This disaster was later declared a national disaster by the Government of Indonesia. At the end of 2019 flash floods hit Lebbo village, Manganitu district, also with large casualties and material losses experienced by the community. Then at the beginning of 2021, flash floods again submerged Laine Village, Manganitu Selatan District. 

     “We have a culture of natural disaster management, but what will happen if the Mining Company comes and defoliates Sangihe Island, even dredging it into the bowels of the earth?
     We fear what will happen is a natural disaster many times the size we have experienced over time. Our tradition forbids us to exploit our homeland for personal greed.”

On April 19–20 2021, a whirlwind devastated a large part of Sangihe Island when hurricane Surigae hit the southern Pacific. Dozens of little tornados formed over the mainland of Sangihe Island, causing hundreds of coconut and clove trees to fall and destroying community plantations on the east coast of Sangihe Island to the south.

A life dependent on abundant natural resources

Although they live on an island that is prone to disasters, the people of Sangihe are grateful for and enjoy the gift of the Creator for this area, by depending their lives on the abundant coastal natural resources.

The majority of people live on fishing but also pursue activities as farmers. Annual crops such as coconut, cloves and nutmeg support the economy of the community. The palawija farming system by planting food crops in the form of bananas, sago palm trees and tubers such as cassava, sweet potato, taro in between the annual crops is a tradition of Sangihese farming as a source of family food.

With such a simple and unpretentious situation, people have been coping with a nature prone to disasters in a safe, and sustainable manner for centuries, maintaining their harmonious and peaceful customs.

Pollution and Loss of Livelihood:

     “If the mine is to operate until 2054, the toxic waste, if on land, will enter our springs and wells.
     If tailings go to the sea, our mangroves and corals will be polluted where our fish spawn and find food.
    Then our people will eat the poisonous fish. If our island is mined, our farmland will be lost.
    Then where do our farmers look for land to cultivate?”

Company Blasting will trigger natural disaster

According to its production license, PT. TMS will use an open pit mining system with blasting to unload minerals / ores from the earth. This will greatly affect the soil structure on Sangihe Island which is very unstable and prone to landslides and mass land movements. The explosions that occur will cause very strong vibrations in certain areas that can trigger natural disasters.

Habitat loss and risk of extinction for endemic wildlife 

The Sahendarumang jungle habitat and protected national forest area in Tamako sub-district is home for endemic animals, including protected bird species that are now under threat. While the forests will be damaged, endemic animals and plants will lose their habitat and are at risk of extinction. The forest is also Sangihese peoples’ life support, hosting the upstream of all the rivers that flow in each village. If this island is mined, the springs will be interrupted and even polluted to the point that people cannot consume the water any longer.

The rediscovery of the Cerulean Paradise-flycatcher

Horizontal conflict is prone

The potential for horizontal conflict between communities that have so far lived in harmony is disruptive. Both between communities and community members, between people who do not want to give up their land and those who wish to sell to the company, as well as conflicts between the community and the security forces. This condition will certainly be dangerous for the defense and security of the archipelago, because Sangihe is the border area of ​​the Indonesian State, which borders the sea with the Philippines.

      “If our island has been damaged by the gold mine what will happen to our children and grandchildren in the future? Where will they live? Should they be driven off the land of their own ancestors?
      We wish to live in peace and security as we always have, even be it a simple life. Because of that, we do not agree our island to be mined.
      Let our island remain as before, sustainable for our children and grandchildren.”

The community strongly rejects the presence of PT. Tambang Mas Sangihe and its mining operations because it threatens the survival of humans and nature.

If you want to recommend our campaign, please use our Social Media forwarding buttons on top and if you want to spread the news please remember our hashtags:

#SaveSangiheIsland & #SaveSmallIslands